The Chevrolet Impala is getting an important addition for 2014, adaptive cruise control. But what's really impressive what it can do.

By now, adaptive cruise control has become fairly common. Basically, it measures the distance to the car in front of you and holds you to that distance, no matter whether the car in front slows down or speeds up.

It's incredibly handy. But it has been fairly limited. It didn't work for sudden stops or if the car in front comes to a full stop. Chevy says it has solved those problems. So if a car in front of you stomps on its branks, your Impala will respond as well.

The new Chevy system, which is already on Cadillacs, changes that. It can take the car to full stop, if necessary. It also comes with a system that brakes the car to a stop if a sudden hazard appears in front of the car.

"Results indicated that brake-apply rates were 25 times lower under freeway conditions relative to manual driving," said James Sayers, a research scientist in the institute's Human Factors Group, in a statement. "These results suggest that Adaptive Cruise Control can substantially reduce the workload and stress associated with the everyday task of car following."